Thursday, April 28, 2011

Looks like it's going to be a hat...

Hello my friends,

so much time has passed already since my last post. Bad me... I hope you had some nice Easter-holidays.
I had hoped to post this way earlier, but I never got around to do it. I even put the pictures on my USB-stick and took them home with me over the weekend, hoping that I'd find a moment to post from there, but sadly it didn't work out.
However, I always try to update my progress list on the right, so you can notice that I'm not lazying around.
I'm working on a few things at the moment, the hat, the shorts for my mom's uncle and a carpet bag. I decided that I need one to take with me to the Wave Gotik Treffen at Whitsun, as not much fits into my embroidered handbag. So I ordered the fabric and leather handles last Monday and got to cut the pieces already on Friday. I had made the pattern the weekend before. Tonight I started sewing the fashion layer after working on the shorts.
The hat had been put on pause as I had to wait for some more decoration items, which arrived on Saturday.
But I will come to this again at the end of this post. Now I wanna show you some more in-progress pictures of the hat, which still is entirely handsewn.
Last time we stopped with the top being covered and then pinned to the crown. Looked like this:

After that I stitched it together:

Details of the stitching:

Next I covered the brim, first the lining, which turned over the wire and edge and then put the fashion layer on top and stitched it to the lining.

Looked like this (top and side view):

To cover the edge I found some nice braid in my huge stock that has a grey and a black edge, perfect matching for this hat, don't you think? I fixed the braid with three stitches through each loop on both sides, so it would lay smooth.

Next I sewed around the inner wire through all layers and cut the seamallowance (top and bottom):

Then I pinned and joined the lining pieces:

A grossgrain ribbon was added to the inside of the brim:

Then the cown pinned and sewn to the brim (quite fiddly, when it shall be invisible):

Before the lining was added I tried the hat on and decided that a layer of felt wouldn't hurt. Additionally I put another layer in the side regions. Then I fixed the lining to the felt.

Last I sewed the grossgrain ribbon to the lining, to give it a clean finish.

Also I decided on the shape of the brim. I was really conflicted about having the sides up and front and back down or the other way round. In the end I have one side up and one down *lol*

So the basic hat is done and now all it needs is some nice decoration. I had already bought some matching red satin ribbon and three bags with little flowery stuff. I tried putting them on the hat for a test, but as research showed that it is nearly impossible to put too much decoration on a victorian hat, I went to get some more flowers and satin ribbon. This time in red and black and wider than the other, as well as some tulle ribbon to stiffen the ribbon if neccessary. Also I discovered that I would have to pluck an ostrich, as victorian hats seem to have half of the feathers of one bird on them. This is what I had to wait for to arrive. Fortunately I had quickly found an online source which offers really great ostrich stuff for little money. Quick and affordable shipping included. Ordered on Monday night as well and arrived, as mentioned above, on Saturday noon.
So I'll probably spend part of the weekend decorating the hat. I'm afraid I won't keep my "as little as possible glue" vow. I don't think I would get all pieces in the right place and order if I sewed them on... so I guess it will be a more sticky task ;)
Also I need to figure out how to fix the hat on my head. Hatpins won't work alone, so I will probably have to add an elastic that will go under my hair then. Maybe I'll also add a red ribbon that ties in the nape of my neck under the hair with a big bow... not sure yet.
Do you have any other ideas about how to fix the hat?

Tags

Disclaimer

This is a private, non-commercial blog. All content provided here is for informational purposes only and may not be copied and published elsewhere without my explicit permission.I will not take any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site and I will not be liable for any errors in this information.I will also take no responsibility for the content of the websites linked in my blog.